How to Protect Your Organization from Ransomware

Decide

Evaluate if paying the ransom is your best bet. If you have off-site, real-time cloud backup, then you will be able to dodge downtime and get back up and running without giving in to the criminal's demands. But if you aren't prepared for an outbreak, paying to regain access to the files may be more pocket-friendly than halting business operations for an extended period of time. Seventy-two percent of infected business users could not access their data for at least two days following a ransomware outbreak, and 17 percent were down for at least 10 days – that's time and money that can never be regained. Can you afford to take that risk?

Ransomware is taking organizations of all sizes by storm with a keen eye on the health care sector, as made evident by recent outbreaks in the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, and more recently the Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky. Although the ransom can be costly, the reality is that the downtime inflicted by ransomware can be even more damaging to businesses.

A recent report commissioned by Intermedia found that 72 percent of employees were unable to access their files for at least two days, and 32 percent were locked out for five days or more. Richard Walters, SVP of Security Products at Intermedia, believes that companies need to take this emerging threat more seriously, and can start to do so by taking the necessary steps to minimize the damages.

To protect the company from those insiders who abuse their privileged access and from hackers with stolen credentials, many companies are turning to a privileged access management (PAM) solution. ... More >>